A Fishtail braid is a nice alternative to a normal braid. It has a much tighter detailed look that is fun to try out for special occasions! Also, it has multiple variations to try out so you'll never be bored of it!

Hair style was done by Sharelle Loudd at Beautique Salon in San Jose, CA. She was awesome enough to demonstrate this technique while we documented the process. Any mistakes are ours.

Beautiful photography by audreyobscura!

Step 1: Tie Your Hair

You can just do this with your hair hanging free, but for another look (or for your first time) tie your hair off in a pony tail holders at the back of your head.

Step 2: Starting the Braid

To keep it from looking like a typical braid just grab small strands of hair.

Take the small strand from behind the ponytail, bring it to the top and cross over the ponytail. You can see her using her finger to show the X that is created.

Continue grabbing from behind the pony tail and bringing the strand across. Hold the strands in place with each hand.

Step 3: Continue the Fishtail Braid

Use thumb to hold the strands in place. Keep the tension. You should get a nice chevron appearance.

Remember to always reach from back to front to create nice little cylinder from the hair that is staying in the ponytail. This cylinder is building the thickness/body of the fishtail).

You can always loosen up a fishtail by simply tugging gently on the strands to pull partway out of the braid.

These are the basics. Continue as you will. Go to the next step to see how we proceeded.

Step 4: Hiding the Ponytail

As she went on, she used the braid to hide the ponytail holder and give the braid some volume. You can do this by loosening the braid a bit and scrunching it up over the holder. To keep it in place, stick a bobby pins or two in the to of the braid.

Once you have it as long as you want, tie it off with a binder.